"Okay, so maybe I was wrong," said Caroline Forbes coming out of the back of a blue Camaro, owned by her stepbrother Damon who turned off the engine and joined her and her other stepbrother, Stefan Salvatore, leaning of the side of his baby. It was their first time in their new home, the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where Damon had been hired as the new Chief of pediatrics at the local hospital. The three stared at the big, old-fashioned house that they had bought in awe.

"It definitely looks better than in pictures!" the blonde girl exclaimed, her eyes shining and her face showing nothing but excitement. Damon, whose eyes were blue much like hers, but his hair raven black, looked at her, his face forming his trademark smirk as his younger brother put his hands around their shoulders. "Told you," the young doctor teased his sister and pushed the girl toward the house.

If anyone who didn't know them saw the group all together like that, their first thought would certainly not be that they were in any way related. However, the trio shared a mother, and a loving one they all missed since her unfortunate death several years before. Elizabeth and Giuseppe Salvatore seemed to have a blissful marriage with two wonderful sons, until one day Elizabeth filed for divorce after having suffered through many of her husband's drunken episodes. Giuseppe wasn't opposed to this in any way, but being rich and powerful – he had preferred the term influential, himself – he managed to get custody over their sons, whom Elizabeth could only see once a month. It was a little over a year when a thirteen year old Damon found his father dead, hugging a bottle on the floor of the living room with Stefan, at the time 6, doing his puzzles beside him. Elizabeth, in the mean time, had already remarried, and her new husband, Bill Forbes, accepted her boys as if they were his own. Caroline was born a year afterwards, named that because Damon managed to convince the parents their name choices straight up sucked, and the first person to say anything to her was Stefan, calling her a little blonde shining star. She grew up to be just that and resembled her brothers as she was a passionate, playful, and intelligent and above all, a loving person. It had been two years since her parents died in a restaurant fire while celebrating their anniversary and she came to live with Stefan and Damon, both sharing responsibility over their sister.

Damon was now 32, Stefan 25 and Caroline 18. They had grown sick of Boston, where they were all born, and after Damon got a call from one of former attending surgeons of the hospital he had been a resident at with a perfect offer with his name on it, at a town all three would enjoy living, and they didn't think much before packing up. Stefan, a kindergarten teacher, hoped to find a job soon and Caroline had enrolled into college not far from Mystic Falls. However, it was only the beginning of summer and the town was waiting on them to explore it.

"Come on, the house won't bite you," Damon said as Stefan carefully examined every inch of the large hallway. "It may be a bit much, but I figured the sooner we spend the old geezer's money, the better." Stefan nodded.
"I love it!" Caroline all but yelled, "Can we see the bedrooms now?"

After leaving the living room/library that, much to Damon's liking, had a piano, which apparently came with it, they went up the wide staircase that led to the second story. There were six bedrooms in the house so there was more than enough to pick from. The first to choose was Stefan. His bedroom was somewhat secluded, being the only room overlooking the front yard and the driveway. The room was quite large, its walls beige and forest greens, somewhat lighter than his eyes, bookshelves covering most of it, the rest of the furniture reminded him of what Stefan had previously seen in his late father's study, just like the house, old fashioned and dark, but nonetheless beautiful. Damon decided to have the master bedroom which was just across the hall from Stefan. It was above all luxurious, but spacious, simple and well decorated were also adjectives that Damon thought of and decided the room was perfect for him, seeing that the doctor was a tad claustrophobic, a clean freak and very well organized. Caroline found her chambers to be just three doors from her brothers, settling into a room with big windows and mirrors, therefore very light, with its sand colored walls and crimson details. It wasn't much of a girly room, but she liked it, especially the only walk-in closet in the entire house and a perfectly white, shiny bathroom. Her furniture was black and contemporary, unlike anything else she had previously seen.

It took them a week before they had completely settled down and Damon started working at the Mystic Falls General Hospital. He had established a few acquaintances there, one of them being Chief of staff, Dr Elijah Mikaelson, with whom Damon had already a chance to work in Boston. Mikaelson was the kind of guy who got himself a huge name in the best hospitals of the USA and then got sick of the money and fame, thus deciding to come back to his hometown and settle down while still having an excellent career. His family was, as he had heard from last year resident Meredith Fell, one of the most respected in the town: Elijah and his wife Jenna, a private practice psychiatrist, had two children, his brother Finn and his wife Sage ran the local homeless shelter. His youngest brother was in college, hoping to become one of the world's leading neuroscientists, while twenty-five year old twins Niklaus, an art teacher, and an ER nurse, Rebekah had no such great aspirations. Beside Dr Mikaelson, there was Chief of ER, Grayson Gilbert, whose wife was the sister of Jenna Sommers Mikaelson, also a family man with his two children, Elena and Jeremy, who were both in college. As another week passed by, Damon, Stefan and Caroline had been over for dinner at the Mayor's, a sign of being welcomed, and learned that a) the kindergarten had an opening place for a young, aspiring teacher such as Stefan, and b)Carol, Mayor Lockwood's wife was almost certain the library needed people as they were reorganizing.

Stefan and Caroline were having ice cream one day, sitting at the park, when two boys with brown hair and brown eyes approached them, one of them wearing a smug smile.
"Excuse me, Miss," the smug one said, "My friend and I just wanted to say that your beautiful face is quite a delight to see in this dull town." Caroline smiled a little.
"Well, thank you very much," she nodded, "Could I get names out of you two flatterers?"
"Kol Mikaelson," the boy said, and his friend shook Caroline's hand, "I'm Jeremy."
"Caroline, pleasure to meet you both," she introduced herself, "This is my brother." He got up and shook both of the boys' hands, "Stefan Salvatore." It earned him a surprised look from them.
"Salvatore, as in Damon?" Kol asked and Caroline responded proudly, "That's our brother."
"My dad works with him," Jeremy explained, "And his siblings." Kol nodded, "Elijah says he's awesome. In. Those. Words."
"Wow."
"I know, and Bekah says the same. Your brother must be a legend," Kol added.
"Sounds about right," Caroline confirmed, pleased, as Stefan sat back with a proud smirk on his face. She sad back down next to Stefan as the guys leaned on the bench beside them.
"So, Caroline, how old might you be?" Kol asked, as Jeremy rolled his eyes, already seeing what his friend was doing.
"Eighteen."
"College?"
"Freshman, English lit," she answered contently and Jeremy smiled approvingly. "You?"
"Studio art," Jeremy said proudly, as Kol scoffed, "Please, boy. Neuroscience," he whispered.
"Color me impressed," Caroline acknowledged. "It was nice meeting you," she said as Stefan finished his cornet, "But my brother and I are on a schedule today so I guess I'll see you around."
"It was our pleasure, Caroline," Jeremy said and the two left and went on with their business.

"So what were you kids up to today when you couldn't cook a proper dinner?" Damon asked playfully as he bit into his take out tortilla, which he despised more than anything but was forced to surrender to please his younger siblings and their Mexican-driven stomachs.
"Sorry," Caroline said, and Stefan answered, "We were out in the woods, to the falls and back. It's quite a view."
"So I've heard. Met anyone in town yet?"
"Actually, we have," Stefan confirmed and left it to Caroline to explain. "Two guys," she started, "Kol and Jeremy, your boss is Kol's brother and Jeremy's dad also works with you, but I forgot to ask a last name." She considered eating more before she turned the questions on Damon. "How's the hospital treating you? Any cute nurses, doctors, patients' moms?" She nudged her brother's ribs playfully and he choked a bit as he remembered what she was alluding to.
"Plenty," he said calmly, "Just none that I would care to seduce." Damon Salvatore, the kind, gentle, perfect with kids was also a world class ladies ' man who was never ashamed to admit it. He smirked, "And to answer your question, Care, it's been awesome."
"Just like you, we heard," Stefan added.
"It's perfect, guys. Everyone knows everyone and they get along, there aren't any dramas where a doctor is screwing ten nurses or anything of the like." He smiled genuinely, "And the kids here are so nice and polite, not like those Richie Riches in Boston."
"I thought you wouldn't get to have much patients anymore, that' awesome!" Caroline exclaimed, "I'm so happy for you."
"And I'm very happy and thankful," Damon sighed, "because you left everything to come here with me. I'd just miss you two ridiculously."
"You know, Damon, we're always telling you one thing," Stefan told him, while nudging Caroline lightly, "and that is…
Where you lead," he started singing and the blonde joined in, "I will follow you, anywhere that you tell me to." They burst out laughing.
"I love you. Okay? And I know I don't say it nearly as much as I mean it, but you can't ever forget that, okay?"
"I love you too," Stefan said.
"Three."